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tv   MSNBC Live  MSNBC  February 1, 2013 8:00am-9:00am PST

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for the campaign? >> no, i don't -- i don't think that's right. the jobs council was very helpful in making recommendations. the president is going to continue to reach out, engage. >> also today, the white house expressing surprise, but not sounding the alarm after secretary of defense nominee chuck hagel's rocky ride before the senate armed services committee. >> well, i said it, and i don't remember the context or when i said it. if i had an opportunity to edit that, like many things i've said, i would like to go back and change the words and the meeting. and i think in a larger context, i've said many, many things over many years. >> so the reviews, they are in. and take a look at some of the headlines today. the "new york times" saying hagel has rough outing before ex colleagues. the hill, hagel delivers shaky performance. "the national journal" is chuck hagel failing. >> i really regretted the lack of civility and respect for a man who has fought for the
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nation, been decorated for combat heroism. and who was obviously a thoughtful and insightful person when it comes to many of these issues. >> i've thought about this a lot since yesterday. i want to give the president the benefit of the doubt in who he can bring to his cabinet with him and who can join him in the cabinet. but in this job, at this time, i will be voting no in the committee, and then assuming there's a vote on the floor, i'll be voting no. >> and this hour, outgoing secretary of state hillary clinton will have her final meeting at the white house. john kerry will be officially sworn in as the new head of the state department later this afternoon. want to start, though, with today's january jobs report. that is the big conversation piece this morning. where unemployment ticking back up slightly from december. an increase of .1% from a month ago. but that's not necessarily a bad thing. and joining me now to explain why, cnbc contributor ron en sonna, author of how to make a
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fortune from the bailout. while people would look at this and have a knee jerk reaction this is bad, the markets, they're doing well today, flirting with history. >> the headline number, tom, was 157,000 jobs created, 157. that's a yahwn. in the past two months, it was revised upward. so it takes the last year average of jobs created at 180,000 a month, a much better number. and it comes in contrast to that contraction we saw in gdp in the fourth quarter. so calms people down a little bit about where this economy is headed. >> if we look over the trends that are going, and we look back over the unemployment rate, and we have from august to january, we can see where we have been going, and, you know, flirting, going down and in the right direction. but why are people looking at this and being optimistic about something big that's on the hill that's coming ahead of us? >> during periods of economic expansion, typically these numbers get revised upward as we
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go true a recovery. and that's what's been happening. each month is being revised upward as december and november were. so now we're seeing a likelihood this 157 can be revised upward as well. we're going in the right direction. the unemployment rate is always a bit of statistical noise. and the economy, generally speaking, is firing on more cylinders than most people realize. manufacturing, doing a little bit better, construction doing better. even retail trade, which typically lays people off in january after the holidays had an uptick in employment. it's not the greatest report in the world but it's going to the right direction. >> even based on the heels of consumer confidence and where that took a hit and that melded together with this, you know, how does that bake in for what people should anticipate in 2013? >> well, i think some people think the consumer confidence dropoff was a result of the end of the payroll tax withholding holiday so a little bite in their paychecks the first part of january, felt that money being taken out in greater lumps than the last two years and tax hikes may have depress the consumer confidence.
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so has the behavior of washington. we've had the debt ceiling suspended, another budget baths to go through. so investors, businessmen and even individual investors and consumers are still somewhat haunted by what's happening in the nation's capital. >> and if we could put the markets gain back up, we had seen it go above 14,000 earlier this morning. it's -- >> right there. >> right there, right now. okay. so this hasn't happened since '07. >> early october, the all-time high, 14,164. standard & poor's, 1465. we're within striking distance of both. and that's a good sign. the stock market is performing well. the bond market is performing as expected, if the economy is recovering and so are other markets. and the indicators i look atom as, actually quite positive. none showing signs of strain, the future economic prospects better than the past. so for now markets are tell us things are all right. that may change sometime in the future but looks good at this at the moment. >> and ron made fun of my
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ravens -- >> absolutely. >> see this? ravens-theme note paper. >> running wild over these guys. >> i'm going to take your $5 bet, okay? >> not in the immortal words of mitt romney, how about $10,000. >> how about burger king and $5? >> done. >> you're in ravens' territory now. look, i've got themed paper. >> i don't have that with me. i was out doing other things this morning. >> getting up to speed on the markets while i'm like i need ravens paper. >> the niners are going to crush these guys. >> they're not. great to see you. if you're coming on the show, i'm warning everybody. i want to bring in today's power panel, jerry bernstein. also former economic adviser to vice president joe biden. msnbc contributor perry bacon. political editor for the agreo. jill zukman and republican
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strategist tip saltzman. no shade on the ravens. we're going to talk about politics and news of the day. i want to start out first talking about exactly what we have seen going on, the reaction out washington, d.c. to the unemployment rate. and let's go jerryd, if we look, unemployment rate to 7.9%. clearly no need to keep the pesky jobs council around with all those ideas and insight. what's your reaction to what we have seen with the jobs report for today and also the news of the jobs council disbanding? >> well, the latter is pretty small potatoes in terms of news of the day. the job council has been around making some suggestions. i'm not sure how much that amounts to. i think the jobs report -- to me the most important thing were the revisions to last year. you heard ron mention that we thought we had added 150,000 jobs per year in 2012. turns out to be 180,000. i think about 2.2 million over the course of the year.
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that's not great. in fact, my view on the economy is a little bit less sunny than ron's. the unemployment rate has been stuck in a range between 7 and 8.2% now for almost a year. so we're kind of slogging along. growth is definitely better than that negative gdp report from the last quarter. that was anomalous. but it's not gang busters by a long shot. >> okay. so that's the big story we've got this morning. perry, i want to talk to you about the big story that's been unfolding since yesterday and the headlines in the papers today, the reviews being in on chuck hagel's performance on the hill. skprael taking it on the nose from his former colleagues. want to remind everybody how that hearing went. take a look. >> the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunter in this country since vietnam. were you correct or incorrect? yes or no? >> my reference to the -- >> senator hagel -- >> well, if you would like me to explain, why -- >> well, i actually would like
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an answer. yes or no. >> well, i'm not going to give you a yes or no. i think it's far more complicated than that. >> name one person in your opinion who is intimidated by the israeli lobby in the united states senate. >> well, first -- >> name one. >> i don't know. >> well, why would you say it? >> i didn't have in mind a specific person. >> perry, republicans in what you're hearing in washington, d.c. proud of the performance they demonstrated yesterday? >> this is a very unusual hearing. usually when an ex senator comes to be nominated for something, his former colleagues treat him nicely. hillary clinton had that, john kerry had that. very striking yesterday. the republicans, they seemed very happy to, you know, pile on a really sharply attack chuck hagel. you saw roy blunt come out today and say he's not voting for this nominee. you saw the republicans be very aggressive. at the same time, every democrat is for him. and as long as the democrats stay with him, it's hashrd to imagine he will not be confirmed.
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but a very rough and unusual day yesterday for hagel. >> all right, julie, you had the opportunity to work with secretary ray la hood and know about the preparedness that goes into getting cabinet members ready for hearings like and able to take on the tough questions. i want to remind everybody some of the fumbles chuck hagel had yesterday and talk about what would have gone into getting him ready. take a look. >> i have just been handed a note that i misspoke and said i supported the president's position on containment. if i said that, it meant to say that -- obviously, his position on containment, we don't have a position on containment. >> just to make sure your correction is clear, we do have a position on containment. which is that we do not favor containment. >> the kinds of unpreparedness and mistakes and i've been told from the highest levels that he had been waterboarded, you know, practiced at the pentagon. he had been working on this. >> so jill, is it a surprise that hagel seemed unprepared, or
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is it a surprise that republicans were going at him so hard? >> none of this should have been a surprise, thomas. i mean, they knew that the republicans were not happy with them. and the democrats, i think it's too strong to say they support him. they're going to hold their nose, perhaps, and vote for him, because the president wants him. but no one is really for him. so all of these things were expected. and he should have been prepped and ready to answer every single one of these things. he should have been prepared for "i want yes or no." he should have been prepared for iran and containment. i mean, even his correction was incorrect. >> and chip, let me talk to you, because our nbc's first read has out that hostile gop questioning might have made democrats even more you wanted, or so the white house hopes and believes. and this is what perry was referring to earlier about roy blunt appearing on "the daily rundown" . take a look. >> a majority in the senate should be able to confirm.
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i wouldn't intend to be part of that majority. but my -- certainly my strong inclination would be this is a vote that should be done by a majority rather than a 60-vote standard. and this person is going to leave today. the president leaves. that makes a difference. >> all right. so the biggest thing there, chip, to come out of that is the fact that, you know, the filibuster coming up. and that doesn't look like it's likely to happen in this scenario. should republicans be proud of the chest beating they did yesterday, and trying to make what is a well-respected former senator, vietnam vet, look bad in front of the country? >> well, i think chuck hagel made himself look bad. woefully unprepared. i just hope the super bowl is better tv sunday than this was for tv because it was awful. it wasn't good on either side. the one thing we learned about chuck hagel, he's much better asking questions than answering questions. there was no curve balls yesterday in this hearing that we unexpected. he was terribly unprepared. if there is anybody that should have been embarrassed by his
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performance yesterday was chuck hagel. >> perry, does that mean -- again, this is not something that people are saying is -- you know, democrats, anyway, that cold water is being thrown on this, and that this isn't going to move forward. >> i mean, jill is right. democrats are not excited about chuck hagel. that said, i think pretty much every democrat in the senate will vote for him, which means he will be confirmed. and ultimately, the things he talked about yesterday, the white house has generally controlled foreign policy, it's pretty tightly there. it's not clear how much impact hagel's nomg or lack thereof of iran will really shake policy. but he was dreadful yesterday in terms of -- in terms of answering questions. but i still think democrats are going to get behind him, because obama wants him and obama really likes him and that's sort of all that matters and the republicans aren't going to filibuster him as roy blunt laid out this morning. >> does it boil down to money though? it's about the defense cuts coming. >> i just think it was kind of a bad day for the impression of politics and political theater
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for any american people who are watching that. there's already enough of a view that the senate -- and the house even more so, are kind of these dysfunctional partisan bodies with all this bickering. and that's kind of what you saw yesterday. probably for most people, that was the most chuck hagel they have seen in a long time and i can't imagine they were very impressed by it. look, on the budgetary side, i actually think chuck hagel can really help in bringing down the defense budget, but doing so in ways that are smart, unlike the sequester, which are across the board spending cuts, absolutely make no sense. >> before we let you go as the former spokesperson for outgoing secretary ray la hood, what are you hearing in your circles about who might take his place? >> you know, every name i've heard offered up i think is wrong. i think most of these names have been, you know, someone has considered them and for various reasons aren't going to happen. i think when they do nominate someone it will be a total surprise to everybody. >> all right. our power panel for today, thank
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you very much. i'm not going to ask who you think is going to win the super bowl, unless you say the raerchs, don't want to hear it. >> the ravens. >> thanks. and we remember ed koch. just ahead, talking about the -- very colorful life of the former mayor of new york stirks his passing this morning. plus, hope in the house. the house of representatives will be taking up the issue of i hope immigration reform. when they're back in session next week. and up next, congressman joaquin castro, democrat from texas. our big question for you today, har-bowl, beyonce, commercials, what are you looking forward to? do not tweet me shade. i will not read them on the air. find me on facebook. we are back after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] finally, mom's oven-baked tastes straight from the microwave. like oven-roasted chicken in a creamy alfredo sauce.
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i want to bring you up to speed on this developing story that we're following coming to us out of cairo right now in egypt. these images coming to us where protesters and police have been clashing outside of the presidential palace in cairo. our eamon mayman mohyeldin sayse throwing molotov cocktails toward the walls of the presidential palace. a fire broke out inside the walls there. we were looking earlier, if you look at the bottom left hand of your screen, kind of where that green laser beam lights are going, there was a smaller fire down there that seems to be contained. again, they're trying to work against these crowds, trying to make sure they're not throwing molotov cocktails. but, again, the protests have continued there. the situation in egypt has certainly been chaotic as the revolution there has been evolving ever since 2011. but we'll keep an eye on that and bring you up to speed when
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we learn more. as congress gets ready to tackle immigration reform, there could be a snag in the key agenda item. the issue both parties are trying to grapple, how to deal with border security. as the daily caller points out, senator chuck schumer says border security is a trigger in the deal, was not explicitly their blueprint for senator marco rubio and what he insisted on. could this disagreement on immigration reform derail the president's time line which he outlined in a recent tell municipal dough interview? >> i'm hopeful that this could get done and i don't think that it should take many, many months. i think this is something we should be able to get done certainly this year and i'd like to see if we can get it done sooner in the first half of the year, if possible. >> joining me now is congressman joaquin castro, a democrat from texas, new to congress but a driving force behind the push for comprehensive immigration reform. sir, it's great to have you with me. and in a conference of texas business leaders yesterday, you spoke optimistically about
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immigration reform passing because of the times we live in. but does the republican party's inconsistency on border control as part of immigration reform worry you as this debate moves forward? >> well, i think there's no question, tom, there is a place for border enforcement and border security. that's critical to the bill. but i think they have also got to be reasonable about how they do it. the commission that the senators propose would have folks like rick perry and jan brewer, who could be appointed to that commission. and the danger you get into there is that these folks have absolutely no political incentive, because they're worried about primary challenges. they have no incentive to ever say the border is secure. so i'm not saying that something like that couldn't work. but if you're going to do it, you've got to do it right. >> when you talk about doing it right, does that mean that border control should be the first step, though, because it seems that's the linchpin for the republicans leading the charge on this. at least senator marco rubio now supporting this path to
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citizenship. but do you think that his powerful voice and also as a republican rising star, will push conservative members of the party to make concessions on that point? those that want to see border patrols and border security being the first thing as opposed to a path to citizenship for the millions of americans that exist in the country currently? >> well, i think that you can do those things simultaneously. you can continue to secure the border. remember that this president has committed more resources and more man power to the border than any president in american history. there's 652 miles of barrier, over $100 million has been leveed in fines against businesses that hire undocumented workers. we've got 21,000 border patrol agents along the border. that's more than the 10,000 we had when president bush was re-elected in 2004. so the fact is, we're doing border security. this president has done it aggressively, and now it's time that we do that, but that we also put people along the path to citizenship. >> msnbc policy analyst ezra
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klein is going to join the show later on and makes this great economic argument about immigration reform in a recent blog post where he talks about immigration or immigrant entrepreneurs outpacing american ones. and giving -- how giving undocumented residents legal status will turn them into taxpayers here. this is on top of other studies, sir, which have also shown that immigration reform would drastically boost our economy. what do you think is holding back some of your colleagues who don't want to pass the comprehensive immigration reform that the president wants, especially that includes a path to citizenship? >> well, i mean, this has been a very political issue. and for many years now, as you know, this issue has evolved a lot. and it's taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, where you've got a bipartisan proposal. but i think a lot of it is politics. i think a lot of -- there's still a wing in the republican party that doesn't want to do anything on comprehensive immigration reform. so you still have folks in the republican party who have to
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take that base, so to speak, into account. that said, we know from the surveys that most americans now favor a path to citizenship. i think the election in november proved that they want the congress and the president to take action on this issue. and so i think the moment is now. >> sir, thanks so much for joining me this morning. congressman joaquin castro of texas, i appreciate it. today is hillary clinton's last day on the job at the state department. it was a wild week for her. but don't mention the word "retirement." we're going to talk about the future for hillary clinton, what could it hold? and forgive and forget. why james hormel is supporting chuck hagel aeven after he described him as openly, aggressively gay. he explains, live, in his own words coming up. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one.
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so it really is a bittersweet day for secretary of state hillary clinton. today is her last day at the state department, and she went to the white house a short time ago. her final meetings there. and she's going to give a goodbye speech to co-workers coming up later this afternoon. john kerry is going to be sworn in later today. with me now is blake zeph, former presidential campaign aide to the president, and as
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well as hillary clinton. blake, a lot of speculation about what's coming next. we know over this weekend hopefully there's some super bowl time. hopefully there's going to be some not setting alarm clock, you know, for next week. where do you see her reemerging? like, what's the time line of her taking time off? >> i think one thing that's really interesting to look at is when bill clinton ran for president in 1992, the first time, he actually did not announce his run until october of '91. that was a couple months before those early caucuses and primaries. hillary clinton when she ran in '08 had to announce in january of '07. that was really a kind of quicker time line than they had really wanted and were comfortable with. so my sense is that hillary clinton would like to take her time, really sort of, you know, get her ducks in a row, relax a little bit and i would not expect her to have to make a decision really any time soon. >> so let's talk about the strategy. because there are a number of organizations out there, including the democratic congressional campaign committee, e-mailing supporters, telling people to sign a thank you card for secretary of state
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clinton. with all the personal data that's going out, is this a sign that groups are trying to organize for 2016, figure out who would be supportive and recepti receptive, at least to the performance that hillary clinton has done in this job, that they could then utilize coming up in a future run for president? >> i think part is to help hillary clinton, but part is also to help those groups, right, because if they can get the data about who are her supporters, they can have that information and then they've got a great list of democratic supporters too. but to be sure, you're right. there is a super pac already formed by a woman named alita black, a pretty active fund-raiser for hillary clinton in the 2008 run. so there are people who, you know, big fans of hillary. >> so the secretary being in her mid 60s, coming around in 2016, be closer to 70 years old. 70 is the new 50. but take a listen to how secretary clinton described her health when talking to our andrea mitchell. >> i'm healthy enough, and my stamina is great enough, and i'll be fully recovered to do
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whatever i choose to do. but i don't have any decisions made. >> all right. so no decisions made. that's the -- you know, the standard answer. when you try to press somebody on what they're doing. >> but i'm healthy enough. >> but i'm healthy enough. no disclaimer there or any wiggle room about the fact she is in good health and recovering from, you know, what was just a slip and fall. >> yeah. i think she was being really clear to everybody. don't think that there are any health issues here with me. i'm going to be just fine if i decide i want to do this. i'm ready to do it. >> when it comes that preparation, though, and this has been a stressful job, about flying around the world and racking up more miles than anybody else. and this time off, you know, to take it off, you think that something goes into the mind-set of herself and people around her, having traveled with her, that this is a time to sharpen up? get in marathon shape for what it is like to run for president? >> i think that's right. i think the first thing really is -- and a cliche, she says i
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want to rest, i don't remember what it's like to sleep in. think about other women in her 60s, your mother, grandmother and imagine them flying to 100-plus countries in the last four years and 1 million miles. that sounds scary when you think about it. so i think that the relaxation thing actually is really key at the beginning. but you're right, for sure, she's going to be make sure show is in key shape. >> i want to point out you're in a pur he will tie, ravens fan? >> jets fan which is really a dying group at this point. >> so we're going to take you as a ravens fan anyway. thank you anyway. chuck hagel took a beating during his confirmation hearing yesterday on the topics of iraq and iran. but another concern was his stance on gay rights. back in 1998, hagel helped block names hormel's nomination as u.s. ambassador telling a newspaper that gays should not represent america, especially, quote, openly, aggressively gay like hormel. we fast forward and hormel is now putting his support behind chuck hagel.
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ambassador hormel joins me live from san francisco. great to have you here with me this morning. when we talk on the heels on the op-ed you wrote this week, saying hagel has taken stock regarding disparaging remarks he made about me, he issued an apology, times and minds have changed. but we remind everybody, sir, back in december, you did not accept that apology, telling the "washington post," i thought this so-called apology which i haven't received but which was made public had the air of being a defensive move on his part. so he has not apologized to you, at least as far as i know, has not apologized to you in person. so why change your viewpoint now in this latest op-ed? >> well, thank you for asking that. because i've had the opportunity to examine the circumstances, and what i find is a person who has done something which is unique, if not -- well, may not be unique. but it's unique in my mind. to issue an apology,
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proactively, at the time when he is being considered for one of the highest posts in the united states government. you don't hear apologies coming from people in washington. you hear suedo apologies, you know, i'm sorry if. but there was no if in this one. he spoke directly of his inappropriate comments in a piece in the "omaha world herald" 14 1/2 years ago. and having cleared the air of that, he made very strong statements as to his support for equality, for all citizens, including members of the armed services and their families. and it seemed to me that having that on the table made it something that he would not be able to back away from. >> sir, as you have said in that op-ed that times and minds have changed and we now have the full repeal under president obama of
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don't ask, don't tell. and chuck hagel got on the record yesterday, talking about the support he has of that. take a listen. >> i'm fully committed to implementing the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. and doing everything possible under current law to provide equal benefits to the families of all -- all our service members. >> so, sir, hagel has said military chaplains will not be forced to perform or oversee marriage equality ceremonies. but do you think that hagel has satisfied the concerns of what have been legitimate ones from the lgbt community, especially given the fact that the president has come out for marriage equality. the fact that the president has been forward on the full repeal of don't ask, don't tell. and now that that would fit squarely in the purview of chuck hagel. >> well, he satisfied my concerns. and my concerns had to do with whether he would, in fact, take
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an active role in enforcing the equality that is now demanded of our government by our president. just i have no doubt that he will. therefore, it seems to me that comments that he made a long time ago under circumstances that have not been described. but after all, he was a brand-new senator. he was under pressure from the political leadership of his party. and i think that he was responding to circumstances that no longer exist. >> ambassador james hormel. thank you for your service and thank you for your time today in joining me. i really do appreciate it. >> thank you very much for having me. >> absolutely. so the nra spent $32 million on politics last year. coming up next, "the washington post's" ezra klein digging in on the nra's political power. plus, the super bowl, it's just two days away. did you know that? a lot of focus is on 49ers' player chris culliver and his
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anti gay comments. one of the ravens' players called it a teaching opportunity. i'm going to get reaction from former nfl player wade davis who came out after leaving the pro lesion. that and much more coming up after this. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. if you're eligible for medicare,
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for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is! on this day in black history in 1960, four college students in north carolina did something dangerous, but extraordinary. outraged over the senseless killing of a 14-year-old emmett till, four freshman, joseph mcnil, zeal blair and david richmond went to a woolworth's diner and sat at a whites-only lunch counter. tv coverage sparked similar sit-ins in 15 states throughout the jim crow south. and after five months of protests, woolworth's integrated its lunch counters.
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30 years after they defied a segregated south the greensboro four as they became known returned to that lunch counter and reenacted that sit-in. want to bring you now breaking news from the white house. another cabinet member is out. energy secretary steven choo, choo saying he will resign once a successor is confirmed. and president obama will take his push for gun control on the road, starting at the beginning of next week. he's going to travel to minneapolis where he will meet with local elected and law enforcement officials. joining me now, msnbc columnist ezra klein. i want to show everybody, as we look at these numbers, nearly 100% of those polled in virginia, new jersey and p.a., they favor background checks at gun shows. but i want to play for everybody what republican senator roy blunt had to say this morning with our chuck todd on "the daily rundown" . >> i'm focusing my efforts on what we can do in the mental health area, what we can do in
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sharing information among law enforcement and security agencies. >> so is it the scene that the republican argument about gun control, the focus still remains on everything but guns. everything on the periphery. how much do you think the president is going to be able to push when the gun control tour begins next week? is it really the push to change hearts and minds of what we hear like of senator blunt's? >> yes, the underlying strategy for folks who don't want to pass any further gun control is to not talk about gun control. and that's an porchlt point, right? it isn't to oppose gun control. certainly isn't to oppose extremely popular things like background checks. it is to try to move the conversation over to maybe arming school guards, mental health. more so i think than the president's bully pulpit work is going to be important here. it's actually going to be the congressional floor that matters, right? senator harry reid and the democrats in the senate can make folks like blunt have to vote on gun control. they can make them have to vote on universal background checks. that gets harder in the house, although once the senate does
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pass something, if it does pass something, it is it get hard for the house to simply ignore it. so more so i think than even president obama's national speeches can force attention on this so they can, the way they're actually going to make -- the way that democrats can actually make republicans have to make a yes or no decision on gun control itself is to bring it to the floor of the senate and force them to actually vote yes or no. >> let's take a look at the money in the background of all of this. your colleague, chris solicited how the nra spent $32 million in the 2012 campaign and only spent $1 million in direct contributions, spent $25 million on outside spending, which includes political campaign ads. and the remaining $6 million on federal lobbying. can gun control lobbists like the former congresswoman, gabby giffords and her husband, started their own super pac on this. can they amass enough money to fight this? and is that what it's going to take, people that stand up to the nra and match them dollar for dollar? >> i'm skeptical that the
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giffords organization can. the one who can is michael bloomberg who has quite a bit of money, has been running -- has been making a very important play to try to become a counter to the nra in certain districts where they're trying to enter in particular. one thing that should broadly be said, it's not clear the nra's power comes from this kind of lobbying. their success rate of getting into elections and shaping or moving in their direction has not been very high. they have a couple fairly high profile in their belt but people dispute this interpretation. comes from an interpretation that they were behind the democrats losing control of congress in 1994. so if gun control groups, be it bloomberg or giffords' organization can show they can defeat one or two incumbents opposing background checks that would go quite a long way to breaking whatever belief there is into the nra's ability. >> msnbc policy analyst, ezra klein. great to see you. >> thank you.
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coming up next, gay in the locker room. former nfl player, wade davis, tackling chris culliver's anti gay comments. and we asked, what are you most looking forward to this super bowl? dan tweets, i cannot lie, the commercials and the three-hour snack fest. carbs be damned. daniel, the puppy bowl. and from bart, an incredible ravens win with the flacco attacko. because we are wacko for flacco around here. keep the comments coming in on twitter or facebook. back after this. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪
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all right. so there's going to be more than 100 million people watching and prepping to watch the super bowl. one player busy responding to these public crisis that he's had after giving a response to a shock jock. the 49ers' chris culliver first went on record saying he would not accept an openly gay teammate. the team rejected culver's comments. finally yesterday, culver explaining why he said what he
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said, and it doesn't reflect what he thought. >> i don't have no differences in other sexualities. and, you know, just like that. and that's -- like i said, what i feel in my heart. and i treat everyone equal in any type of way, so -- it's not how i feel. >> some epic back pedaling there. the topic of the upcoming episode of usa's necessary roughness where a football player comes out on his a footb out on his professional team. joining me is former nfl quarterback player wade davis. first off, let's get you on the record. your reaction to culliver's comments and his apology tour. >> i was very hurt by it. actually, i had two different thoughts. i thought, wow, this is going to help us have this conversation during the biggest game of the year, but then i also thought that, wow, there's a lot of players who are closet in the nfl that are going to go deeper into the closet because of these comments. >> one thing you've said in past interviews is you think the real issue is that the idea that a
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gay man could play sports is an attack to a straight guy's masculinity. what do you mean by that? >> i think that there's a narrative out there that if you are gay and you can play a sport well, then what does that say about straight men because i think that people grow up with the notion that if you are gay, then you're soft or, as chris said, then you're sweet. you know, the fact that a gay man can play a sport better than some straight men is an attack against their own ideas of masculinity. >> is the burden solely on a player that is currently in pro sports to come out to help change and really break through the homophobia that still exists in pro sports? we're seeing it front and center. we have one athlete, you know, brendan from the ravens going and teaing the marriage equality to talk about that as his platform, and then we have comments from chris culliver of the 49ers. >> i think the initial responsibility is on straight players. it should be much easier for straight allies to come up and say i'm against homophobia and
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to create an environment where a gay player feels safe about it. i think the great thing about "the necessary roughness" show is they show the need tore an actual ally. i think that if allies come out and say, you know what, i'm against homophobia, i welcome a gay teammate first, it will be easier for someone who is gay to come out. >> is race an indicator and a problem in the african-american community, in sports because, as we see, you know, none of that sweet stuff? we saw that from chris culliver. with the president coming out with marriage equality and churches coming out for marriage equality and backing it, do you think that will help infiltrate too where the president's viewpoints are framed from? >> i think it crosses all race lines, and i think homophobia does too. i don't think that there are certain races who may be more or less homophobic. i think that it's all about education and having these thoughtful conversations about what it means to be an lgbtq person. >> if you had to do it all over again, would you come out while you were actively playing? do you regret that you didn't?
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>> i don't think i was ready to come out. i think that i had a lot of self-hatred, and i think that if i had morale lies to be in my corner, then, yes. >> well, wade, it's good to have you here and nice to meet you. >> thank you so much for having me on. >> and i'm just going to say go rave ravens, that's all i'm going to say. that's all i've been saying this whole hour. the super bowl, it's going to kick off with the touching tribute, and it's time now for the super bowl side bar. grammy winner jennifer hudson will join the chorus from sandy hook elementary to sing "mesh the beautiful." the 26 students and their families to new orleans ahead of the game, and read her lips. beyonce facing the media at a super bowl news conference yesterday. she admitted to lip-synching at the president's inauguration and settled any doubt about her ability to perform a live version of "the star-spangled banner" in yesterday's accapella version. ♪ the home of the brave
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♪ the brave >> she followed that up by got any questions? beyonce said she recorded the performance at the inaugural because she is a perfectionist, and she didn't feel comfortable singing in the cold weather, and also without a proper sound check and rehearsal. then we have this. nbc's jimmy fallon bringing in the experts to predict who is going to win the big game this weekend. >> blue 32. blue 32. hut, hut. take it. there you go. it's the ravens. oh, my goodness. there, they did it. oh, my goodness. they did it, guys. we have a super bowl winner. the ravens. >> see that? the ravens are going to win, and so now i get to put on my face sticker and put on my hat and i get to eat my cupcakes. that's going to wrap up this
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hour. have a great super bowl weekend. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. "now with alex wagner" is coming up next, and -- >> i want a face sticker of you in that face sticker. that's what i want. a face sticker of -- that's it. or maybe a jiff of you doing that dance. that's going to -- you're going to win the bowl for the ravens, thomas. >> no, no, we got to win. >> i'm with you. face stickers. >> spray painted purple all around your "now" set. >> we appreciate that, thomas. we've got a great show lined up regardless of whether or not you are in the face sticker. >> go, ravens. >> thank you, my friend. happy bowl to you. >> thank you. republicans are putting defense secretary nominee chuck hagel through his paces, but was it grilling or grandstanding? we will discuss with glen thrush, sam, ben smith, and irene. plus, mitch mcconnell atones for his moderate sins, but how will the mainstream reconcile with the right ward flank in the long-term? we will talk food, super bowl
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traditions, and cultural identity with a trio of powerhouses. eddie wong, andrew carmelini and adam rappaport. all when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor. just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.
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